Help With Kids Rooms

Resist the urge to grab a large garbage bag and clean it up yourself. That’s just a short-term fix and one that will come back to haunt you!

If your kids aren’t trained to manage their time and control clutter now, they'll be at a definite disadvantage when they leave home.

The first step is to teach your child responsibility and organizational basics so they’ll know how to declutter their possessions. Then we move on to learn how to maintain a clutter-free room consistently!

Want Help With These Steps? Find out how>>

Organizing Kids Rooms

To effectively organize your kids rooms you first need to consider your child’s space, storage, furniture and possessions from their height. Because kids move quickly through stages and ages, whatever you use as storage should be adaptable.

For younger children, remove closet doors entirely if they are the bi-fold variety. No more pinched fingers!

Lower clothing rods and invest in child-sized hangers for the clothes you want hung up in the closet.

Add more shelving and use open containers so it’s easier for them to take out and put back their toys.

Getting your child involved helps them to better understand the organizing process and how to maintain it.

Kids are more apt to clean up if they have storage that’s easy and fun to use.

And if they know they have to pick up everything at the end of the day, they’re a lot less likely to drag it all out.

3. Create Zones

Start with the messiest area and work from there. Depending on the age of your child, there are several zones that can be set up in their bedroom:

• Toy Storage: Stacked cubes with pullout baskets work great. Or use stackable see-through containers so they can locate their things without having to empty each box out to find something.

• Homework/Art Space: A table works best for younger children, graduating to a desk for school-age kids, but not one with lots of nooks and crannies since kids love to stash stuff in their desk drawers (as do many adults!).

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  SPECIAL TIP

  Many people are sentimental about keeping their children’s artwork and toys, but if you keep 10 things a year for two children for 16 years, you’ll end up with 320 items!

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• Bed/Play Area: The bed and play area are usually one in the same. Younger children incorporate the bed into their play and teens use it to read, listen to music and talk to their friends.
  
  
• Clothes, Closets and Dressers: Provide a laundry hamper near where your child gets dressed. And kids usually have an aversion to hangers so consider installing shelves and drawer units in one-half of the closet.

  Large hooks make hanging pajamas, robes and coats much easier, too. To avoid a morning rush, help your children lay out tomorrow’s clothes the night before.

• Book Storage: A bookshelf is an essential piece of furniture in any child’s room, no matter what their age.

• Special Storage:
  Install a backpack hook near the door to the room.

  Hanging organizers that hang from the closet rod and are canvas columns of compartments can be used to store a wide range of items, from clothes to shoes to stuffed toys to homework assignments and school projects.

  Hang a cap rack if your child collects lots of caps.

Click here for more steps to declutter kids rooms.